The three remaining members of Paramore issued a joint statement over the weekend stating that brothers (and founding members) Josh and Zac Farro had departed the band. And given that it was peppered with digs like, “None of us were really shocked. For the last year it hasn’t seemed as if they wanted to be around anymore,” is anyone surprised that the siblings have fired back with their own very long blog post explaining their side of things? Read on.

Last night a post titled “Josh And Zac’s Exit Statement” (which, according to MTV News, has been confirmed as authentic by Josh Farro’s wife) was posted here.

The reason? “I had a statement typed ready to post to you guys but Hayley released one without my permission,” the post, written by Josh, begins. “We were not going to issue a statement until we worked out our exit agreement with Hayley. I wish it didn’t have to happen that way, Zac and I wanted to be the ones you heard it from. I want to be honest with you guys about how this band formulated from day one. I did not think Hayley’s version told the whole story, at least from our perspective and hopefully this will explain a bit about why we are leaving.”

Farro then goes on to detail the history of “formulated” band Parmore, and touches on many subjects, not the least of which are these:

* “Zac and I had a garage band in high school with the intentions of just making music for the love of it. We met Taylor and our friend Jason Clark at our school and found out that we shared the same musical tastes. So, we asked them to join our band. It was some of the greatest times of our lives playing music in Taylor’s basement with them. We obviously needed a lead singer and one day Zac met Hayley. We asked her to come try out and eventually to join the band.”

* “Months down the road things changed and this band became all about Hayley. She had a manager at the time that controlled her every move along with her parents.”

* “I got a call a while after that from Hayley telling me that her manager said that Zac and I were invited to be back in the band (the band we started), but not Taylor and Jason because they weren’t good enough in his eyes. Hayley brought in Jeremy and our first rhythm guitarist Jason Bynum as the other two members.”

* “We travelled to LA a few weeks later for a showcase and it was a nightmare. Hayley’s manager would tell the band to be in the lobby of the hotel at a certain time, but he and Hayley wouldn’t show for hours. We found out that they had been meeting with record label executives all morning without us, which is totally weird given that this wasn’t simply a solo artist, but we were a band.”

* The label and management then decided to build our band up the grass-roots route. They put Hayley on Fueled by Ramen not making it known she was signed to Atlantic as well.”

* “Her dad would constantly threaten to ‘pull the plug’ on the whole band if we complained about anything, suggesting that we were hired guns and Hayley was the real artist, when in reality we were also part of the band. We’ve always been treated as less important than Hayley. It’s been obvious how her family views things.”

* “Once again we hit the road and toured on our biggest record as a band. As you all know Hayley and I dated and broke up during this album cycle. Things then started going downhill for our band.”

* “Once we finished touring on Riot, we came home for a break and started writing for Brand New Eyes. Hayley presented lyrics to us that were really negative and we didn’t agree with. For example, “the truth never set me free”, which contradicts what the Bible says in John 8:32 (‘and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall sat you free’).”

* “We fought her about how her lyrics misrepresented our band and what we stood for, but in the end she got her way. Instead of fighting her any longer, we decided to just roll over and let it go.”

* “Touring became more difficult since we couldn’t agree on anything. The friendships our band once had were no longer existent.”

* “After a lot a prayer and counsel Zac and I came to the decision that it was time to leave the band. We truly feel that God is leading us elsewhere and is going to do great things with us. The intention of this statement was not to belittle or disgrace the rest of the band, it was simply to clarify our decision for leaving and our desire to finally tell you guys the truth.”

So there you have it—another side to the recent fracturing of Tennessee rock act Paramore. One can’t help wondering where this leaves the band, which is set to travel to South America for a tour in February.

Also in February: the Grammy Awards, where Hayley Williams is up for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for B.o.B’s “Airplanes”—not to mention Best Performance By A Pop Duo Or Group for Paramore’s “The Only Exception.” Awkward.

Wow, this might get really nasty (if it hasn’t already depending on your view). I really don’t know what to think. This just shows us how little anybody knows what really goes on in a band behind the scenes. I don’t think anybody was really surprised to hear that they left. But from what they wrote, it sounds like they want to work it out (“We are still hoping to work out a friendly way to leave our part of Paramore intact with the remaining band members, including Hayley”). Which is going to be hard after all the other stuff they wrote. I suspect Hayley might post something sooner or later in response, but I think they should all talk face to face and not thorough each other’s blogs. They live in the same town for cryin’ out loud.

len

“She had a manager at the time that controlled her every move along with her parents.”

sounds like Hayley is the victim of mind control programming which is all too common in entertainment industry circles.

Jacob

good ridden to idiot people. If they truly but that much of their head into God, they should not be making music.

That’s crazy. I would love to see a documentary. I know that sounds robot-like, but they are in the entertainment business.

Michael Bailey

They’re right, it needs to be about the music. Hayley’s a great singer, but we liked her band mates as well. Get another singer Farro brothers, one who sings just as well, or even better. And one that wants to be in a great band. Honestly, now Hayley just seems like another greedy, corporate, whoring pig, clawing her way to the top…

LOL

what? No don’t! Your songs are the only real music left :'(
Anyways, Whatever you guys decide. You all rock :))

http://twitter.com/tacobomb2011 tacobomb2011

I believe Josh. I don’t think any less of Hayley though, at least not that much. She just wanted to be famous and it sounds like they didn’t think Hayley would do good enough by herself (or either she would look better in a band). I think eventually they’ll get back together. I also think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Josh just got married and he probably wanted to spend time with his laduh. Oh well, we’ll see how the recover from this with their next album. Hope it’s good.